


Mother Knows Best

by TourmalineQueen



Category: Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed Bro'Hood, Assassin's Creed II - Fandom
Genre: Bite sized bits of fic from 2014, Character Study, Gen, Missing Scene, comment-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 06:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2572244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TourmalineQueen/pseuds/TourmalineQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for Leni-ba at comment-fic on LJ, who requested <i>Any, any, Mother knows best</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Mother Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/gifts).



It had taken ten long years for Maria to return to her family from the place she locked herself into in her heart after her husband and sons had died. 

She had barely recognised her second son when he brought her the hundredth feather in memory of little Petruccio, and she realised that the living Auditores needed her more than those who were deceased. Ezio and Claudia were hers just as much as Federico and Petruccio, and they both missed their siblings and father just as much as she missed her husband and sons.

The force of Ezio's embrace when she woke from her catatonia, even though he tried to be gentle with her frail body, proved as much. He had changed so much from the boy she remembered teasing about his girls, en route to Leonardo's studio. The resemblance between Ezio and the late Giovanni was still there, though not as strong now that Ezio had broadened with the bulk and muscles of a condottiero rather than the lithe leanness her late husband had cultivated to fit in among the nobility of Firenze. 

As she got to know him again, as he planned with Mario to deal with Rodrigo Borgia once and for all, she realised that her son was still inside the Assassin, he was simply well-hidden. He still boasted about conquests and still blushed when she asked too much about them; he still scuffed the toe of his left boot in the rug if he was feeling guilty about something, and he tugged on his ponytail when he was worried - and unhooded.

Ezio had been trained well to hide his feelings from his enemies, and some days she did wonder whether he worked to allow his family to see his emotional tells or if it happened naturally. She hoped it was natural, for Ezio's sake.

It was when danger came to Monteriggioni that she realised how hurt her son had been by her catatonia following Umberto Alberti's betrayal. So concerned with Claudia's and her safety was Ezio, that he ordered them away without hesitation, without offering them the chance to own their own fates. No Auditore worth their salt would take such a thing without protest, but the red blood blooming on Ezio's shirt made Maria's maternal instincts take over.

No more would she cower from the Borgia and their dogs. Maria Auditore had hidden from the dangers of the world for long enough: now was the time to take charge of her own destiny.

"We will take shelter in Siena for a day or two, then, when Ezio no longer thinks we are in danger, we will find him in Roma, sì?"

Her daughter bared her teeth in a smile that vividly reminded Maria of Giovanni - and she had thought Claudia got all her looks from her.

"Ezio won't know what hit him!"


End file.
